It didn’t budge.

Behind Nate, the door to the sanctum opened. Katie sprang through before Conner heaved it closed. Although she had entered, he remained outside. Evidently Conner realized he was defending Jonas from invisible intruders, but he didn’t understand that they kept slipping by him. Nate wondered how much Katie had communicated to Jonas via seashell.

Instead of yanking, Nate gave the urn a steady pull and felt it begin to tip. It was apparently held in place similarly to how the Protector had been anchored to its pedestal, as if by unseen magnets.

With a shrieking battle cry, Katie came flying at Nate, one foot outstretched. Nate had to soar away or she would have demolished him. Her foot hit the wall instead of his head. She landed nimbly. The urn remained upright.

Nate flew away from her as she gave pursuit. Katie leapt around the room almost as if she could fly as well. Nate made no effort to engage her. He had seen how hard she could kick and punch. One blow might be all she needed to finish him.

He tried to swerve back toward the urn, but she knew what he wanted and kept cutting him off. Gradually she herded Nate toward a corner.

Jonas toddled away from Katie’s wax figure toward the figure of Nate. A knife emerged from his robe.

Nate realized that if things didn’t change quickly, Katie would corner him and take him down. He crammed his final stick of Peak Performance into his mouth.

Jonas stabbed the figure of Nate in the back of the head. Slashing the throat, he removed the wax head from the body. Nate winced but felt no effect from the attack.

As the Peak Performance entered his system, Nate saw the room more clearly. He knew what he had to do.

Nate flew back into the wall as if he didn’t know it was there. With triumph in her damaged features, Katie sprang at him, her foot snapping forward with a vicious kick. But Nate anticipated the move based on the pattern of her offense and swooped under her attack, his nose inches from the floor.

If he went for the urn, Nate knew Katie would get to him before he could overturn it. So instead he flew at her wax figure. First he kicked the figure in the stomach with everything he had. The wax figure toppled.

Behind him, Katie collapsed, vomiting violently.

Nate crouched and began stripping away the acupuncture needles all over the wax figure. Behind him, Katie went into wild convulsions.

Nate noticed the robe making its way toward the wax representation of Mozag, knife upraised. Again, Nate doubted whether he could tip the urn in time. Instead he flew to the robe, grabbed the back of it, and jerked it hard. Jonas had always appeared unsteady. Sure enough, the robe fell to the ground and the knife skidded free. The sleeves of the robe reached toward one of the invisible legs, as if grasping an injury.

Nate flew to the urn. Bracing a foot against the wall, he seized the top with both hands and pulled steadily. The urn tipped a little at first. As Nate kept straining, and the urn tipped more, it began to lean easier. The urn came free, and Nate carried it away from the niche.

Raising the urn over his head, Nate crashed it down to the tile floor with all of his might. It burst into countless fragments, great and small. For an instant the light in the room dimmed and an indefinable energy throbbed through Nate, making him a little queasy. Then the moment passed, and all seemed as it had before.

Nate took no time to celebrate. He was chewing his last stick of gum, and he had a simulacrum to destroy. First he took out his stone coin, looked through it, aimed it upward, and said, “Utcha.”

Nothing happened.

Apparently he needed to actually be looking at the sky.

Nate flew to where Katie lay inert. Noticing a telltale bulge in a zippered pocket on her side, he removed a keycard and a small set of keys. Nate flew to the sanctum door, swiped the card, and shoved it open.

Conner’s clothes waited outside. Nate flew down the hall faster than he would have dared without Peak Performance. He swooped around corners and sped down halls until he reached the staircase door. He unlocked it with the second key he tried, sailed up the stairs, then unlocked the door at the top with the same key. Nate flew to an EMPLOYEES ONLY door that he remembered led outside, unlocked it, and flew out.

Flying to Mt. Diablo from here would consume too much valuable time. Removing the coin from his pocket, Nate peered through it, looked up, and said, “Utcha.”

Nate shrank down to a point and unfolded hovering above Uweya. Without pausing, without looking at his surroundings, Nate peered through the coin, found Mt. Diablo, zoomed in close, found the SUV abandoned on the slope, then traced the path they had taken up the slope to the cavity they had entered. Enhanced as he was by Peak Performance, the task felt simple.

“Utcha,” Nate said again.

He folded into himself and was suddenly standing on the slope not far from the little opening. Nate flew to the entrance and slithered through. He soared through the cave at a high speed. He snatched the electric lantern near the lip of the crater and dove into the enormous hole. Earlier he had descended slowly. Now he rocketed straight down, faster than he would have fallen had he simply jumped off the edge. The speed was essential. If his Peak Performance ran out before he reached the deadly obstacle course, he would get mutilated.

Nate slowed so he could make the turns where the shaft elbowed, then raced to the room with the Gate, through the next room, through the cramped hallway, and into the chamber that led to the obstacle course. He noticed the clothes of Lindy, Chris, and Risa flying around. Destroying Jonas White’s Source had freed them. He also noticed the clothes belonging to Cleon and Jeanine.

The Peak Performance still felt fully operational. Nate paused for a moment in front of the churning corridor of blades, spears, and columns. He had been in such a hurry to get here that he hadn’t stopped to consider whether he still needed to be here.

Did he still need to destroy Uweya?

Jonas White was in trouble. All of his simulacra were now useless. Some of his top people were down for the count. Jonas was probably not in a position to come get Uweya at this point.

But what if Jonas escaped? He knew where to look now. It would only be a matter of time before he tried again.

Even if Jonas was captured, how many of his people knew about Uweya? The secret was out. The way was now open. If Nate left Uweya unguarded, somebody would come and claim it.

As much as he hated the thought of passing through the deadly corridor again, he could not leave a voodoo Earth lying around for any wacko to come and claim. The Hermit and the Graywaters had been right—Uweya was too powerful to entrust to anyone. For the safety of the whole planet, Uweya had to be destroyed.